May 5, 2007

Morning Coffee 5/5/07

More than one-third of U.S. soldiers in Iraq surveyed by the Army said they believe torture should be allowed if it helps gather important information about insurgents, the Pentagon disclosed yesterday. Four in 10 said they approve of such illegal abuse if it would save the life of a fellow soldier.

And the problem here is? If conducting an aggressive interrogation saves lives, I’m all for it myself.It all depends on what you think it torture. One man’s torture is another man’s interrogation.

With Democrats moving away from an insistence on a timetable for withdrawing American troops from Iraq, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, hit back at one of the contenders for his party’s presidential nomination, John Edwards, who has urged Congress to send President Bush the same bill over and over until he signs it.

Hopes for a statewide ban on smoking in bars haven’t gone up in smoke, but backers are trying to figure out how to fix the proposal after it was gutted by a House amendment.

Nice to see at least the Texans pushing back. When the reps of ALL the people realize we don’t need nannies, it’ll be a day to celebrate. If ya don’t like smoke, stay out of the bars. Drinking is bad for you, so if they ban smoking, ban drinking too. 🙂

For the first time in 22 years, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s oldest nuclear reactor — the site of one of America’s worst nuclear accidents — is expected to be operating soon, after a five-year, $1.8 billion restoration.

I would hope that after all this time, we’ve made progress in safety measures and new technology. Believe me, electricity ain’t cheap in Tennessee, so if that plant would cut our electric bill, I’m all for it!

The greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, whose emissions growth is causing the atmosphere to warm, can be brought under control, said the economists of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – but only if governments act decisively.

Yes, we must all stop using toilet paper, driving cars, living in warm houses, and bow down to kiss the collective hinder of the U.N. I don’t bloody well think so! If the planet is going to warm up a bit, it’s going to do it, cuz that’s what IT wants to do. We have no effect. None. Zip. Zero. Human arrogance just astounds me.

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Friday that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is paying an eternal and deserved punishment for his brutal life’s work.

“You sure wouldn’t want to be where Saddam Hussein is, where we helped put him,” Giuliani said during a campaign stop in eastern Iowa in which he praised President Bush’s war on terrorism but acknowledged that mistakes have been made in Iraq.